Glad I Asked

I finally got around to asking Clevelan Santeliz about the origin of his unusual first name.

(Photos courtesy of Kelly O’Connor)

“My father loves baseball and he was a big Cleveland Indians fan,” Santeliz told me. “So he started with Cleveland and since there is a Hall of Fame pitcher named Grover Cleveland Alexander, he gave me the middle name of Alexander. My full name is Clevelan Alexander Santeliz.”

“But what happened to the letter ‘d’ at the end of Cleveland?” I asked.

“My father spelled it wrong,” Clevelan said with a laugh. “He left it off the birth certificate.”

I think his father was secretly a big Jimy Williams fan too.

* * * * *

Josh Reddick’s commute to work just got a little bit easier.

The 24-year-old outfielder rejoined the PawSox on Sunday after batting .385 (5-for-13) in a 10-day stint with Boston. Reddick continued to live in an apartment in Providence while playing for the Red Sox.

“If we don’t have a day game the next day, I drive back to Providence and get home around midnight or 12:30,” Reddick said. “I get a good night’s sleep and then drive back. When we have a night game/day game turnaround, I stay in a hotel. We get 7 free nights in a hotel, so I save them up for those days so that I don’t have to get up early and battle the traffic.”

When Josh is with the PawSox, everyone on the team calls him “Redd.” But as soon as he walks into the Red Sox clubhouse, his nickname changes to a character from the “American Pie” movies.

“They call me ‘Stifler,’” Reddick said. “Tito hasn’t called me Josh or Reddick since the day he discovered that I look like that character. Tito has a lot of nicknames for guys on this team. He calls Lars Anderson ‘Dirk’ for Dirk Nowitzki. He calls Ryan Kalish ‘Al’ because he’s from Jersey and kind of looks like a mobster.”

It was good to see Josh perform well during this stint with Boston. Last year, Reddick batted .194 in 29 games with the Red Sox and felt like he got passed on the organizational totem pole.

“If you don’t the job, they’ll find somebody that will,” Reddick said. “That’s what happened last year. Nava went up and he swung the bat well, and Kalish did well too. That kind of opened my eyes a little bit that I needed to step it up and swing the bat like I know that I can.”

That’s exactly what he did this time around. As a result, Reddick will almost certainly be driving back-and-forth between Providence and Boston before the season is finished.

* * * * *

Admittedly it’s only one start, but the Red Sox acquisition of Kevin Millwood to increase their starting pitching depth looked like a smart move on Monday in Durham.

The 36-year-old veteran pitched with Mark Buehrle-like efficiency, allowing 1 ER in 6.2 IP while only throwing 62 pitches (40 strikes). Millwood didn’t throw hard, but had good command of all of his pitches and never faced more than four batters in an inning.

If you would like to see Millwood for yourself, the former National League All-Star is scheduled to start the opening game of Pawtucket’s next homestand on Saturday night at McCoy Stadium.

* * * * *

Tommy Hottovy’s promotion to Boston is the organization’s feel-good story of the season so far (Kansas City’s David DeJesus might disagree), and it will be interesting to see what that means for Felix Doubront.

Doubront had just returned from a groin injury when Rich Hill hurt his elbow in Boston. As a result, the Red Sox turned to Hottovy to be their left-hander in the bullpen and he’s done the job in his first three major league appearances.

But Doubront has been excellent in his first two outings for Pawtucket since coming off of the disabled list, allowing 1 ER in 8 IP. In his last start, Felix gave up 2 infield singles in 4.2 IP, with no walks and 5 strikeouts.

“I think he’s 100% healthy, but he’s kind of in spring training mode where we have to stretch his arm out a little bit at a time,” said PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler. “I think he’s going to be pitching for awhile this season, so we’re going to be careful with him. He’s a nice bullet to have down here if something happens in Boston. Hopefully we can have some starting depth down here if they need somebody in the second half of the season when guys start to get tired and they need that help. It’s a long season and the big league guys are going to need help from time to time, and we want these guys fresh and strong if they get an opportunity.”

* * * * *

After taking 3 out of 4 in Durham, the PawSox open a 4-game series in Norfolk on Tuesday night at 7:15. I hope you’ll join us for radio coverage beginning with the pre-game show at 7:00 on the PawSox radio network and pawsox.com.

About Me

I began writing this blog when I was a broadcaster for the Pawtucket Red Sox before leaving the team at the end of the 2011 season to become the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals. I am also the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Cincinnati football and basketball. Thanks to all of you who began reading this blog for content about Red Sox prospects. I will always cherish my time with the PawSox.
I still plan to write about baseball and will post all of my blog entries about the Bengals and Bearcats on this blog as well. I welcome your questions and/or comments at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.NFL.Net

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